1 1 7. FIEEASFEKID.E FIERASFEK. 
791 
conical teetli, besides two divergent canines in front; upper jaw with 
similar teetli in several series in front, the canines smaller and closer 
together. Pectorals little longer than eye; insertion of dorsal slightly 
in front of anal, a little in front of middle of body; rays of vertical tins 
low and weak, those of caudal most developed; vent close in front of 
anal, which is similar to dorsal. Head 8; depth 14. D. 41; A. 30. L. 
6 inches. Straits of Fnca; burrowing among rocks near low tide-mark. 
(Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas. iii, 18S0, 2G6.) 
Family CXVIL— FIERASFERID.E. 
Body very elongate, compressed, tapering into a long and slender 
tail, scales. Teeth cardiform on jaws, vomer, and palatines; canine 
teeth often present; no barbels; lower jaw included; vent at the throat; 
gill-membranes more or less nnited, free from the isthmus; no pseudo- 
branchite; no pyloric coeca; vertical tins very low, conduent, without 
spines; no ventral tins; pectoral tins present or abseiP. Small tishes 
of the tropical seas, parasitic in shells of mollnsks, in Uchinoderms, etc. 
Genera 3; species 12. 
{Ophidiidai, grouii Fierasferina Giiutber, iv, 381-384.) 
a. Pectoral lius present; caudal liu obsolete Fierasfer, 432. 
432 FIERASFEK Cnvier. 
(Cuvier, Regne Auira. ii, 1817 : type Fierasfer imherbis Cuv. = Gymnotas acus Briiimich. ) 
Xo distinct caudal tin ; pectoral tins developed. [Fierasfer^ the 
ancient name, from sleek and shining.) 
121§. F. dcibiiis "" Putnam. 
Color, in spirits, uniform light brown, with a short silvery band along 
the sides of the abdomen, made by conflueiit spots. Maxillary extend- 
ing slightly beyond orbit; lower teeth larger than the upper, except 2-4 
front teeth of upper jaw, which are about equal to lower teeth ; vomer 
with 3-G teeth, 2 or 3 of these canine-like. Pectoral half head; vent 
under base of pectoral. Dorsal fin low, but distinct; anal much more 
developed than dorsal; its longest rays about in the middle of the fish. 
Air bladder long, slightly constricted behind. Gill-membranes not cov- 
ering isthmus. Head 7 J; depth of head 15. [Putnam.) Florida Keys 
to Cuba and Panama. 
(Carapus laffinis Poey, Syn. I’isc. Cub. 1888, 402, not of F. affinis Giiutber; Putnam, 
Proc. Post. Soc. Nat. Hist. 1874, 344.) 
* In the Museum of Comparative Zoology is “ one valve of a pearl oyster, in which 
a specimen of Fierasfer diibius is beautifully inclosed in a pearly covering, depo.sited 
on it by the oyster.’’ (Putnam.) 
